As he seeks to get beyond the lingering grief, Andy Moore is leading an effort to honor his son by placing a memorial at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center. He also wants to help children pursue Parker's passion for soccer by offering scholarships to camps and donating money to buy uniforms and trophies.

Andy Moore wants to honor his slain son's love for soccer with a memorial at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center. His son Parker Moore was fatally shot in a robbery Jan. 21, 2018, while working at a Barberitos restaurant in Warner Robins, Georgia.(Photo: Ken Ruinard / staff)

Soccer was his son's "happy place," Moore said. "So if I can share that with other kids to get them to enjoy it and be able to get them on the field and play — that would be a great honor. I am sure Parker would be very, very pleased."

Moore, a former paramedic who now works at the Michelin plant in Sandy Springs, outlined his plans at a recent Anderson County Council meeting.

"I miss him and think about him every day. I want to turn a tragedy into something positive," Moore said. "His life had so much potential, and he was much more than what was dealt to him."

Council members are expected to make a decision in January on the request to erect a memorial at soccer fields near the Civic Center of Anderson. Andy Moore also has asked that the fields be named for his son.

Council members have appeared receptive to his ideas.

Chairman Tommy Dunn expressed admiration last month for Andy Moore's goal of using his son's death to lead to the "betterment" of Anderson County and its young soccer players.

Councilman Craig Wooten said the Moore family "has got a powerful story that's been encouraging and uplifting to me."

Others in the community feel the same the way. Nearly 3,400 people have joined the Facebook page for the Parker Killian Moore Soccer Fields Project.

"It is overwhelming," Andy Moore said.

If county officials approve his request, Moore said he will launch a fundraising campaign with a goal of collecting about $20,000 to pay for the memorial and annual soccer camp scholarships for two players.

Andy Moore brought up an idea to have a memorial made to honor his late son Parker Killian Moore at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center soccer fields in December. The request was made before the Anderson County Council Tuesday, December 4, 2018. His son Parker Moore died in a tragic robbery shooting January 21, 2018, while working at a Barbaritos restaurant in Warner Robbins, Georgia. (Photo: Ken Ruinard / staff)

He envisions the memorial consisting of a bronze plaque on a stand near three flag poles and a pair of benches.

Moore said focusing on the memorial helps keep him from dwelling on the details of his son's death.

No charges filed in death

Andy Moore and Parker's mother divorced when their son was about 18 months old. Although Parker lived with his mother in Georgia, he spent many weekends, holidays and summers in Anderson with his father, stepmother, stepbrother and two stepsisters.

He and his father made frequent visits to the sports and entertainment center to play soccer together.

"We were pretty close. We were tight," said Moore, who saw Parker for the final time last year during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Besides soccer, he said, his son enjoyed video games, cats and music.

Parker Moore, 23, was fatally shot during an armed robbery Jan. 21, 2018, at a Barberitos restaurant where he was working in Warner Robins, Georgia.(Photo: provided)

"Parker was a good kid," Moore said. "He worked hard."

Parker wasn't scheduled to work on Jan. 21, according to his father. He went to a job interview that day that led to him being hired for a customer-service job. After the interview, he received a call from the manager at Barberitos, who asked him to come in that night to help close the restaurant.

An armed man entered the restaurant's back door a few hours after Parker arrived.

"He got Parker and took him to the cash register up front," Moore said.

After removing money from the register, Moore said, "he turned around and shot Parker."

Parker died at the scene, his father said. Another employee also was shot but survived.

Parker's death was the third homicide within a nine-day period in Warner Robins, a city of about 75,000 which is 20 miles south of Macon, Georgia.

'Even that won't bring him back'

According to published reports, Daniel Bruce Franz, 28, has been charged with murder and aggravated assault in the first of those homicides, which took place at an apartment complex. Franz was free on bond stemming from other criminal charges when he was arrested two days after the armed robbery at Barberitos that resulted in Parker Moore's death.

Although police have described Franz as a suspect in the Barberitos robbery and a Jan. 13 armed robbery at a Chevron gas station that led the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old clerk, no one has been charged in either of those cases, according to published reports.

Andy Moore keeps a candle lit at his home in Anderson for his slain son Parker Killian Moore.(Photo: Ken Ruinard / staff)

A Warner Robins police detective who investigated Parker's death and a spokeswoman for the department did not return phone messages from the Independent Mail.

Moore is disturbed at the thought of his son's slaying going unpunished.

"I need to have justice," he said.

But he also knows that nothing can erase the loss of his son.

"If the man is executed, even that won't bring him back."

Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM and email him at kirk.brown@independentmail.com